Best Drama Movies on Netflix Right Now (2020)

No. 40- The Shining  (1980)

Written by: Stanley Kubrick (screenplay)/Stephen King (novel)

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, and Danny Lloyd

The Shining is horror drama about Jack Torrance (Nicholson) and his family, as Jack takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a secluded resort built on Native burial ground that Jack looks forward to using to focus on his writing career. Jack, a recovering alcoholic, begins to lose his mind inside the hotel, as his son Danny (Lloyd) begins to have premonitions and telepathic connections, called “the shining”, with the hotel’s chef. As Danny uncovers the horrific history of the Overlook, Jack begins to terrorize his son and wife (played by Duvall) as the three try to survive the icy winter alive.

Stanley Kubrick films have an unnerving quality to them that puts the viewer in a state of discomfort and anxiety, and he has always been a master of creating terror in the most unusual of situations. Although Stephen King’s novel is, most likely, the superior work of art, Kubrick’s film manages to capture some of the most memorable, terrifying sequences on film in the last thirty years. Jack Nicholson also provides a completely unhinged performance in the film’s climax that you can see bubbling below the surface through the film’s first half. This is also a movie that will make you avoid twin girls on tricycles for the rest of your life.